Clarification of the type-locality of Temminck's Courser Cursorius temminckii damarensis Reichenow, 1900

2006·0.78 MB·

by  W R J Dean

GuyDutson 309 Bull. B.O.C. 2006126(4)
Clarification ofthe type-locality of
Temminck's Courser Cursortus temminckii
damarensis Reichenow, 1900
byWR,J,Dean
Received 10January 2006
Temminck's Courser Cursorius temminckii Swainson, 1822, has been treated either
as monotypic (White 1965, Urban et al. 1986, Dickinson 2003) or polytypic with
one subspecies, damarensis Reichenow, 1900 (Sclater 1924), or two subspecies,
ruvanensis Madarasz, 1915, andaridus Clancey 1989 (Clancey 1989, Hockey etal.
2005). In his review, Clancey (1989) proposed that damarensis was a synonym of
nominate temminckii andthat as a result a new name was required for 'damarensis'
referred to by other authors, which he then provided, C. /. aridus.
The type-locality of C. t. damarensis is given as 'Damaraland' only, usually
without Namibia (Sclater 1930: 137, Peters 1934: 300, White 1965: 135, Clancey
1980: 77, Clancey 1984) following the type-description (Reichenow 1900: 156).
Reichenow (1900) conditionally named C. t. damarensis on the basis of a paler
reddish-brown crown, and no other characters. No type-specimen was designated
(Clancey 1989). Clancey mistakenly noted that no type appeared to exist,
overlooking the holotype in the Museum fur Naturkunde of the Humboldt-
University ofBerlin (ZMB). No type-locality was put forward by Reichenow, but
'Damaraland' by inference has been accepted as such. 'Damaraland' is an outdated
name for that part of Namibia between 19°S and 23^S, and 14°E and 20°E.
According to Clancey (1989), nominate temminckii, ruvanensis and aridus
{damarensis) all occur in Namibia {contra Hockey et al. 2005), but do not all
overlap in 'Damaraland.'Nevertheless, itisuseful to clarifythetype-locality, andto
provide some details ofthe type.
The holotype of C. t. damarensis, an adult female, accession number ZMB
28717 was collected by A. W. Eriksson on 15 November 1890, with locality
Ochimboro (Otjimboro), Namibia. There seems little doubt that the locality is
correct. Eriksson was at Otjimboro from 16 October to 15 November 1890, before
moving north to Angola where he remained until early December. Relevant
specimens are held in Regionmuseum Vostra Gotaland, Sweden (formerly
Alvsborgs Lansmuseum) (Lundevall & Angermark 1989), the South African
Museum, Cape Town, and ZMB. Aspecimen ofGabar GoshawkMicronisusgabar
(ZMB 28702), also collected on 15 November 1890, is similarly labelled
Ochimboro. The type-locality of C. t. damarensis Reichenow can therefore be
precisely identified as Otjimboro (17"25'S, 18°20'E), Namibia.
W.R.J. Dean 310 Bull. B.O.C. 2006126(4)
Acknowledgements
IthankBobDowsettforsuggestingthatthetype-localitybeclarifiedandforhis coiiunentsonalistof
type-specimensinZMB. MyvisittoBerlinwasmadepossiblebyfundingfromtheGlobalBiodiversity
InformationFacility,Denmark. IthankSylkeFrahnertatZMB forworkingspaceandaccesstothebird
collectionthere.
References
Clancey,P.A.(ed.) 1980.SAOSchecklistofsouthernAfricanbirds. SouthAfr.Om. Soc,Johannesburg.
Clancey, P.A. 1984. Geographicalvariation andpost-breeding dispersal inTemminck's Courserofthe
Afrotropics. Gerfaut74: 361-374.
Clancey,P.A. 1989.Thestatusof(Cursoriustemminckii)damarensisReichenow, 1901.Bull.Brit. Orn.
CI. 109: 51-53.
Dickinson, E. C. (ed.) 2003. TheHoward& Moore complete checklistofthe birds ofthe world. Third
edn. ChristopherHelm,London
Hockey, RA. R., Dean, W. R. J. & Ryan, R G (eds.) 2005. Roberts'birds ofsouthernAfrica. Seventh
edn.JohnVoelckerBirdBookFund,CapeTown.
Lundevall,C.-F. &Angermark,W. 1989.FdglarfrdnNamibia. AlvsborgsLansmuseum,Vanersborg.
Peters,J. L. 1934. Check-listofbirdsoftheworld,vol. 2.HarvardUniv.Press,Cambridge,MA.
Reichenow,A. 1900.Die VogelAfrikas,vol. 1. O.Neumann,Neudamm.
Sclater,W. L. 1924.SystemaAviumyEthiopicarum. BritishOrnithologists'Union,London.
Urban,E.K.,FryC. H. &Keith, S. (eds.) 1986. ThebirdsofAfrica,vol. 2.AcademicPress,London.
White,C. M.N. 1965.ArevisedchecklistofAfricannon-passerinebirds. GovernmentPrinter,Lusaka.
Address: DST/NRF Centre of Excellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute ofAfrican Ornithology,
UniversityofCapeTown,Rondebosch, 7701 SouthAfrica,e-mail: [email protected]
©BritishOrnithologists'Club2006
Is the bulbul Phyllastrephus lorenzi
a good species?
by Lincoln D. C. Fishpool
Received 13January 2006
Sassi's OliveGreenbulPhyllastrephus lorenzi Sassi, 1914, is apoorlyknownbulbul
(Pycnonotidae) of apparently limited distribution. Originally described from a
specimen collected at Moera, near Beni, in eastern Democratic Republic ofCongo,
the relatively few subsequent records have been confined to forests ofthis region,
with one from adjacent western Uganda. Almost all records refer to collected
material, such that virtually nothing is known of the bird in life. So far as I am
aware, there are 44 specimens in museums (Table 1). In the course ofpreparing the
bulbul familyaccountfortheHandbookofthebirdsoftheworld(Fishpool&Tobias
2005), I examined 40 ofthese. As a result, I have come to the conclusion that P.
lorenzi is almost certainly not a valid species but is, rather, synonymous with the
widespread Icterine Greenbul P. icterinus, ofwhich it is possibly a melanic morph.
I presentherethemorphological evidencethathas ledmetothis conclusiontogether
with distributional and other data consistent with such a view.